Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta, 3

 Our third and final day...

Up and there before the crack of dawn...these are the "zebras," the
officials who make the call to fly, stand, or ground

Inflating the Exxon balloon...the chief sponsor of the Fiesta

OK, not our favorite corporation

Flaming solidarity, apparently a tradition; or obeisance

Hanging on

Heavier-than-air fly-over

Another heavier-than-air...but note the gathering clouds

Others inflating

I wandered over to chat with the crew of the Exxon ballon

Rare dorsal view

It was Saturday, I was wearing my Buckeyes sweatshirt, and
the guy on the right wanted to know who they were playing
(Illinois)

But then the zebra came over to announce that another gully washer was
on the way, and there'd be no flying...

Last blast

Us, there, as they start coming down; so we didn't get to see the
mass ascension, but what we saw was nearly as good and definitely
a knock-out

I am scooting along to avoid being buried by Exxon

Show's over; our advice...1) definitely on your bucket list, 2) go early
in the week, 3) go early in the morning

And we are proceeding on...

Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta, 2

 Continuing our first day...

Now in one of the many souvenir shops along the midway...the 
whole thing is a bit like a state fair

Pins for pin traders

Chimes

Of course...and a premonition of things to come

Our second day was pretty much an administrative day, but we did
go to the Fiesta for the evening's festivities and flights...which all were
washed out by a classic southwestern gully-washer...here we and a
hundred other people are hunkered down under a metal-roofed
pavilion, counting the seconds between the flash and the thunder 

Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta, 1

As it happened, we saved the best for last on our hundred-and-one day, 15,000 mile cross-country trip. We'd seen hot air balloons in Cappadocia in 2010, and actually ridden in (a stationary) one in Angor Wat (!) before that. But we'd never seen hot-air balloons on Albuquerque's scale. I'm not sure we've ever seen anything on that scale. Why Albuquerque? you ask. The mountains that form the city's backdrop cause an interesting swirl as one's altitude rises: thus, at Albuquerque, you can take off, drift one way, and then, as you rise, come back the other way, and land pretty much where you took off. Fairly unique, world-wide. In order to see all this, however, you have to wake up at 2-3am and drive to the Fiesta field. The major activities are very early in the morning. We stayed three nights at a KOA 10 miles from the field.

Our first day (night): we're up at 2am, drive to the field, park, go back
to bed; 5:30am, we're up admiring the drone show

Thus

First stirrings on the field

First flames, inflation

These are the Dawn Patrol; they go up first, test the winds, etc.

Us, there, pretty thrilled to be right there on the ground,
feeling the warmth of the flames

Lift off

Aloft

Others inflating...there will be many

The first of the "shapes"; there would be scores more; this is a
local concrete company

Among the several passenger-carrying balloons...
upwards of $995 p/p

Pretty much all the balloons are sponsored by some
organization or other...usually corporations

A really, really good week for the propane company

This is an unusual dorsal view of of the local creamery balloon...
quite old now and only "stands" but doesn't fly